What is love? a child wonders. What does it feel like, smell like, taste like? How does it move? How long does it last?

As she prepares a traditional Chinese meal for her family, the child’s mother replies: her love for him is as rosy as wolfberries, warm like tea, sweeter than the red dates she puts in his soup. It shines through the water like its own brilliant sun. It goes round and round with no beginning and no end. Because a mother’s love for a child is always there, warm and soft, broad.

Panda Book Award Shortlist (2022-2023)

“This perfect marriage of illustrations and lyrical writing celebrates the affection that’s expressed through a lovingly cooked meal. This lovefest is a feast for all the senses.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Through Lee’s stunning colored pencil and gouache illustrations, simultaneously detailed and serene, readers witness the loving bond of mother and child...”
—School Library Journal

“The conversation includes only the mother and child, but the final picture presents a larger, multigenerational family gathered to eat, as satisfying as a gentle hug—or a tasty dumpling.”
—Booklist

We Need Diverse Books interview by Thushanti Ponweera